Europe Trip
by LilyWrites
Summary: Bella takes a gap year to figure out what she wants in life. Fulfilling her dream she travels across Europe together with Alice, where they learn a lot about other countries, cultures and themselves. Alice/Bella AH. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**

Bella is nineteen; graduated high school a few months ago and still doesn't know what to do in her life. Because of that she resolves to take a gap year and takes several jobs to earn some money, to travel and to go to college next year. Together with Alice she discovers Europe and finds in her a new friend and maybe more than that? ;) **A/B** AH

**Recently I watched the movie Into The Wild, which is great by the way, and the idea for this Fic just popped into my mind. But don't expext it to be similar to the movie.  
It's my second story for FanFiction and I am continuing my other one **_**Because She Is different**_**, nonetheless.**

**This story is about traveling, obviously but also about friendship and finding love eventually :P**

**Thanks for the great help of ****anagnophile****, who corrected my countless mistakes so I could edit this chapter. Thank you! **

**Disclaimer: **Sadly I don't own Twilight.

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BPOV

After an extra shift at Forks' only supermarket, I was beat. All I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. But life had no mercy on me. Having not one, but three jobs, I had barely enough time to visit my boyfriend once a week.

But let me begin from the beginning:

I graduated from high school almost two months ago, but not with good enough marks to even think about getting any scholarships. My dad, Charlie, and my mum, Renee, had saved some money for my college education, but I didn't know what to study yet. There was no way I wanted to waste their money by studying the wrong subject, therefore I searched for another job instead. I was already working at an outdoor trekking store, but they needed me just twice a week. So, eventually I started working at the local library on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, at "Olympic Outfitters" on Thursday and Saturday, and at the supermarket every Friday and, if they needed me, when I wasn't occupied with my other jobs. It may seem very chaotic, but after a while I got the hang of it. I kind of liked working and not having to think about anything important, as long as I didn't have to work too much. Lately, though, I was working way too much.

My boyfriend, Jacob, didn't like it. According to him, I shouldn't be working at all. I should just go to the nearest college and study some lame subject. I bet he wouldn't mind if I didn't study at all and became the old-fashioned housewife, cooking and cleaning and caring for the children. It's not that I don't clean or cook, but I would be bored stiff if I had to do it all day, every day. Okay, back to Jacob. We had been dating for one year now. He lived on the reservation with his father, Billy, a friend of Charlie's. Despite some differences, Jake made a great boyfriend. Although he was short tempered and could be very possessive, he was also caring, humorous, good looking and head over heels in love with me. What more could I ask for?

Two years ago I moved from Phoenix to Forks. My mother had married Phil, a minor league baseball player. Phil was great, don't get me wrong, but I felt as if I was getting in their way. Because of Phil's profession he had to travel a lot, and I knew that my mum wanted to go with him but stayed because of me. So, I decided to move to Forks to live with my dad. I missed mum very much but I didn't regret moving.

Right now it was shortly before three o'clock and I was on my way to the Forks library after a four-hour shift at the supermarket. Although I liked working at the library best, I would have prefered driving home to rest a bit.

"Hi Bella," Lisa, my boss, greeted me while I hung up my rain jacket. Even though it was summer, I was forced to wear a jacket.

"Hi Lisa. Did the new books finally arrive?" I wanted to know.

"Indeed, I already prepared them to be shelved," she informed me.

"Alright, I will do that now."

After an hour of sorting and shelving, I was done with the new books and took over from Lisa at the reception desk. Two hours later, I was finally able to head home.

There I took my eagerly awaited shower to relax and enjoy the feeling of hot water against my skin. Thankfully, my dad had come home early and already ordered pizza, which I ate in the living room watching some baseball game on TV. I barely noticed who was playing because I didn't give a shit. In my opinion, baseball, like every other sport, was boring to watch and I just ate in the living room to spend some time with my father, who I rarely saw these days.

When I finally settled in my bed, I let my thoughts wander. I was tired of my current situation. I was tired of working all day long. I was tired of being told what to do and what not to do with my life. I was tired of not knowing what to do with my future. I was tired of the rain. I was tired of always seeing the same faces. But mostly, I was tired of Forks.

I started to understand the reason Renee fled this small town when I was six years old. Nothing new happens in Forks. Everything gets into routine. Sometimes, I just dreamed of getting out of here to somewhere totally different. Another town, another state, another country, it didn't even matter, as long as it wasn't Forks. Just thinking about it, I got itchy feet. During my senior year at Forks High I always thought I would travel around Europe after my graduation. But now I knew it was just wishful thinking, especially since the flight alone cost a fortune and I didn't want to spend most of my money on just a flight. My dream of a European vacation started because when my mother was younger she traveled that continent as a backpacker and still raved about the trip. The pictures she showed me made the desire to take a vacation even stronger.

Thinking about my mum, it came to my mind that I could pay her a visit for a week. That way I would see her again and have an opportunity to escape this fucking town for a few days. Full of enthusiasm, I grabbed the phone and was about to dial her number when it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey," I recognized the voice of my mother.

"Hi mum. Funny, I was just about to call you," I laughed at the coincidence.

"Ooh. Guess what!" she excitedly said.

"What, mum?" I replied, knowing that I would never guess what she wanted to tell me.

"Do you still want to travel the world?"

"Yeah? I was just thinking about it. Why?" I was confused, why was she asking me that?

"Because… You know the frequent-flyer program, right? I collected enough points from my flights with Phil that you could fly to Europe for hardly anything." She spoke so fast, I thought I misheard her. Did she actually say that I could fly to Europe?

"What?"

"Didn't you dream of traveling to Paris, London, Berlin and other capitals?"

"YES! Of course mum. But I recall the last time I told you about it, you said, 'I like the idea, but I know how dangerous backpacking and hitchhiking is, and I will not allow you to travel on your own'," I quoted her.

"That's why you would go with Alice," my mother mentioned casually.

"I would do _what_?" I shrieked.

"Well, Alice is your age. She is the daughter of Esme, you know?"

Esme was one of my mother's best friends. Although I had never met her, I'd heard many good things about her, for example that she was very nice and organized a lot of charity performances. She and her husband were very wealthy.

"Okay, mum but why do I have to travel with someone I've never seen in all my life? Traveling with friends can be tough enough and you want me to spend several weeks on another continent with a stranger?" I couldn't believe it.

"Yes, that's what I want you to do. She is in a similar situation to you: she graduated high school and thinks that traveling on her own, without a lot of money and without any chaperon she can 'broaden her mind'. That's what she told me. She is such a lovely kid. I know you will like her. Esme and Carlisle don't want her to travel all by herself, just like your father and I don't want you to do that. It fits doesn't it? Where else would you find someone your age, who doesn't go to college yet, and wants to journey abroad? Just think about it okay?" she almost pleaded.

"Okay, mum. I will think about it," I sighed.

"Great. Grab something to write with. I want to give you her number so you can call or text her."

"Mom, I didn't say yes," I whined.

"I know, but just in case. Do you have something to write with?"

I went to my desk, grabbed a pen and wrote down the cell number my mum gave me.

"Think about it. I'll call you tomorrow. Bye, Bells."

"Bye, mum."

Great! Now I had the opportunity to actually fly to Europe, which was a dream of mine, but I had to travel with Alice. I didn't know anything about her; what she liked and didn't like, what she did in her spare time. More important was that I didn't know what she expected from the trip. Did she want to stay at expensive hotels, which I didn't want to do? I would rather camp or stay at hostels. Which countries and cities did she want to visit? How long? I guessed I had to call her to find out. But not today, I wanted to talk with Charlie about it first.

He was not overly excited about the idea, but he would let me go as long as I had company. Now I had to tell Jacob that I would maybe be spending who knows how long on another continent. That would be tough. I needed to visit him tomorrow and hoped he would take the news well.

A little bit overwhelmed, I went to bed, having dreams about traveling. Wonder where those came from?

After working at Olympic Outfitters the next day, I decided to call Alice. I had at least a thousand questions for her. A little bit excited, I dialed her number.

"Hello," a beautiful bell-like voice answered the phone.

"Er, hi. Is this Alice?" I asked timidly.

"Yes? Who are you?" she sounded confused.

"Ehm, it's Bella, Renee's daughter."

"Ah. Hi Bella. I guess your mum told you about the idea of us traveling together, huh? Isn't it weird? The whole situation, I mean. You can't believe how excited I was when your mum made that suggestion. I mean, two strangers discovering the continent?" she asked, her voice filled with enthusiasm.

"Yeah. That sounds…great. But I have some questions first," I said.

"Shoot!"

"Well, where do you want to go exactly? And when?" I asked the most important questions.

"Well, if it were up to me, as soon as possible. And I don't mind where we go, but I really want to see Paris, London, Dublin and Amsterdam. My uncle lives in the Netherlands," was her response.

"Ooh, those cities are the same ones I want to see. So far, it seems that we're on the same page. Ehm, there's another question," I hesitated.

"Yeah?"

"Eh, I know that you are rich and that you are probably used to staying in expensive hotels and –"

She cut in, "Oh no. I have to admit that I had those holidays with my parents, but now I want the opposite, actually. I want to stay at cheaper hotels or youth hostels and travel via train or bus, you know?"

To say that I was relieved would have been an understatement. "Phew, that's good to hear. I have to say that I'm loving this idea more and more. But we need to arrange a lot beforehand," I told her.

"Of course. Just call me anytime, if you want to."

"Okay, bye Alice."

"Bye Bella. It was nice to finally speak to you," she giggled and hung up.

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**Well, this was the first chapter, tell me if I should continue or not. Your feedback is always welcome :p. If anyone has some suggestions which European countries or cities they should visit, just let me know.**

**PS: I don't know if the frequent-flyer program works like that, but in my story Renee is able to transfer her points to Bella.**

**Bisous Lily**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, I know I didn't update this fic for a long time. I'm sorry for that, but I was really busy and didn't have much free time. **

**Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review. Your kind feedback motivated me a lot.  
Special thanks to **_**anagnophile**_** for looking over this chapter and fixing my mistakes.**

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The following days I spent talking with Alice and mum on the phone, discussing when we wanted to start our trip, what we needed, what we had to arrange and so on.

"And you are sure you want to do that?" I heard from everyone who knew about my plan, especially Charlie. It was annoying as hell. Luckily, my employers didn't mind me applying for leave, although it was pretty spontaneous. Alice and I really wanted to do it. It wasn't easy to discuss everything on the phone, but we did a great job.

The hardest part was telling Jake. He didn't take it very well. He even frightened me when he started yelling at me, asking how I could do that to him and saying that I was selfish and stupid… He only stopped when he saw tears rolling down my cheeks. The reason I started crying was that I couldn't take his stupid allegations anymore. I was sick of his temper. Of course he apologized and tried to comfort me but right then, I was too overwrought.

So, the preparations were in full swing. Because I worked at Olympic Outfitters, I got a discount on everything in the store. I bought a new backpack, a mini sleeping bag, a flashlight, a pocketknife, everything we could need. Boy it was a lot and I doubted that I would be able to carry that huge backpack for more than five minutes. We thought about buying a small tent too, but decided against it because we had already too much to haul.

As soon as we got our visas (AN: just pretend it didn't take long to get it) everything went very fast and before I knew it I was standing at the airport saying goodbye to Charlie and Jacob. I felt like I was leaving for good. Failing miserably at holding back my tears, I cried like a baby. Yeah I know I'm such a sissy, but I would miss them very much, even though Jake had the nerve to try to persuade me to stay. He knew how badly I wanted to travel to Europe, and we had already hashed it out. Sometimes he acted like a child, and he often tried my patience.

We had decided it was easier if I flew to Phoenix first. That way I could visit my mum for a few days Alice and I would be able to arrange those last things we weren't able to discuss on the phone. I was excited to meet Alice, but right now I was just glad that I would finally see my mom again when she picked me up at the airport. The flight was okay, I passed the time listening to music and thinking about the fact that mere weeks ago I was complaining about my boring life and now I was going to fly to places I'd only seen in books, in pictures or on screen. The whole thing felt so surreal.

I knew that my mum wouldn't be at the airport when I got off the plane, and I had to wait fifteen minutes for her. When she saw me, she gave me a bone-cracking hug until I thought I couldn't breathe anymore. On the ride to their home, mum and Phil asked me at least a hundred questions about the trip, and they told me that Alice was so excited and hyper that she was driving her family crazy. Renee told me that Alice wanted to come with them to the airport because she couldn't wait to meet me, but that she and Esme had convinced her to come by later that day instead.

Afternoon came fast and I was anxious to see Alice. I felt like I was going on a blind date or something. I was waiting in the living room, when I heard the doorbell. Renee and Phil were eating out, so I walked to the door a little bit nervously. Okay, very nervously. Soon, I would see the person I would spend the next weeks or months with. I hoped she would be even half as nice as she seemed to be on the phone. When I opened the door, I immediately knew that we would get along just fine. Alice was a little bit shorter and thinner than me; she had shoulder length black hair and the most beautiful face I have ever seen. Her smile showed her perfectly white teeth and cute dimples, even her blue eyes lit up when she looked up at me.

To not seem like a moron, I stopped staring at her and stepped to the side to let her in. But she surprised me by pulling me into a warm hug.

"Hi Bella. It's nice to finally see you," she said, before letting go of me.

I don't know why, but my face turned tomato red, and I had trouble finding my voice. "Hi Alice," was all I could say.

Still smiling widely, she walked straight to the living room. Walking behind her, I noticed what she was wearing a pair of black flats, a white top, and some daisy dukes were accentuating her long, thin but fit legs. Wait. Did I just size her up? Sighing, I plopped down at the couch, while Alice sat on the armchair next to me. The heat was definitely getting to my head.

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked her, not knowing what else to say.

"Yes. Water would be great," she smiled.

Filling two glasses with water, I thought about how lucky I was. Alice made a very good first impression. Back in the living room, we talked about anything and everything. Unlike me, Alice was an artist; she loved to paint, draw and sing. The only artsy thing I was able to do was photography. She also told me a lot about her family: her older brother Edward and her parents, Carlisle and Esme.

After about two hours, which felt like thirty minutes, Renee and Phil came home and together we went through the final details. We only booked one-way tickets because we didn't know yet how long we wanted to stay. Unfortunately, it was eventually time for Alice to go home, but she promised to visit us tomorrow. I was really glad that mum talked me into the whole thing. Although I knew that she would never have let me go to Europe with someone she didn't like, I still hadn't expected Alice to be that nice.

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"You know what? We could do a 'To Do List' like in that movie the bucket list with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman," Alice suggested.

"That sounds fun. How many things should we write down?" I grabbed a notebook and a pen, ready to write. Altogether we wrote 40 things down; from climbing the Eiffel Tower to camping in the garden of someone, or watching a movie in a language we didn't understand.

Guess who chose the more 'normal' things like 'Ride a gondola in Venice' and who chose the crazy things like 'Trying to make a British guardian laugh' or 'dance on stage of a concert'? Needless to say that crazy Alice suggested the latter. We had a lot of fun thinking about absurd things to do.

After Alice left, Phil excused himself, giving Renee and I some mother and daughter time. It was nice to finally be able to talk with her in person. Only now did I realize how much I really missed her and her erratic and joyful character. We talked until we realized it was the middle of the night, and we needed to get some sleep."

The next morning we woke up late, and I decided to make breakfast/brunch, because I knew better than to expect a decent meal from my mum. Let's just say that cooking was not one of her best qualities. Phil needed to go early to practice his hitting technique or something, so we were alone. When mum and I finished eating, I volunteered to do the dishes, remembering very well how my mother loathed doing it.

As I was filling the sink with water, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I almost knocked down the owner of the hand. "Jeez, Alice! You scared the shit out of me," I gasped, clutching my racing heart.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't know that you were so jumpy," she giggled.

_You are sorry, my foot_, I thought. "You are early. I thought you wanted to come in the afternoon," I wondered.

"Yeah, I got pretty bored and I thought you might want to get some ice cream?" she asked hopefully.

"Well, I just finished breakfast, but there's always room for a bit of ice cream," I patted my stomach. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I know a great ice cream parlor, which is a fifteen minute drive from here," Alice answered, smiling mischievously.

"Let me finish the dishes first, then we can go," I pointed to the few things that still needed to be washed. With Alice's help, I was done in no time.

"Mum! Alice and I are going out to get some ice cream," I shouted, not knowing where she was.

"All right! Have fun, girls." According to the direction of her voice she must have been in the bathroom.

I took a few bills out of my wallet, not wanting to carry the whole thing with me, and gestured to Alice that I was ready to go. As soon as I stepped outside, I regretted not having used my sunscreen. My skin and body weren't used to the blazing sun anymore.

Shielding my eyes, I followed Alice, who stopped in front of a yellow Porsche a moment later. "So, what do you think?" she asked expectantly.

"Huh? What do I think about what?" I was confused.

"Shall we drive, or do you prefer walking to the ice cream parlor?" she asked leaning against the Porsche. I nervously looked around, afraid that the owner of the car might not like seeing Alice in such close proximity to the roadster.

"Well, if you can't decide, I'll choose the car." I was more than a little surprised when Alice took out her keys and opened one of the doors of the Porsche.

"Are you kidding me? This can't be yours," I gasped in disbelief. Renee had told me that the Cullens where loaded, but a Porsche 911 turbo?

"Yep. This is my pride and joy," she laughed at my stunned facial expression. "Come on, get in," she said, still laughing. By now, I thought that she and my mother were the two most joyful people in the world.

Carefully, I stepped in, afraid of breaking or scratching anything. Yes, I'm a klutz and I frequently break things by accident. It was amazing sitting in the leather sport seat, and I couldn't resist the urge to slide my fingers carefully across the dashboard. "Wow, Alice. It's beautiful," I smiled at her.

I knew that Jake would go green with envy if he knew that I was driving in a Porsche. He was a car enthusiast, and spent most of his free-time working on cars. Weird, this was the first time I was thinking about him. I thought I would miss him much more.

Alice's smile broadened when she pressed a button and the top of the car slowly disappeared. She then revved the engine and sped off down the street. It was fun to watch Alice drive. She seemed to be in her element, and the wind blowing her hair out of her face showed off her delicate features.

We were getting a lot of attention. A great number of guys turned their heads as they saw us driving past them. Some of them wolf whistled or waved at us. When we arrived at the parlor, my hair was tousled and I had difficulties taming it with my fingers. Alice looked great with her I-just-got-out-of-bed hair.

After I ordered chocolate ice cream with snickers candy bar we sat at a table, because it was way too hot outside. Alice chose the strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips and gummi bears.

"Ew, Alice. How can you eat that?" I pointed at her ice cream.

"What? It's the best," she folded her arms. "Wanna taste it?"

"No, thanks," I grimaced.

We stayed longer than expected and of course the number one topic of conversation was our upcoming journey. Both of us could hardly wait for tomorrow.

Our first station would be London, because the flight from Phoenix to the UK was the cheapest, and it would be a good start because we wouldn't have any problems with the language. We had already changed some money so that we would have enough cash if we needed it.

When we got back to my mum's, it was already afternoon, and Alice had to go home. Unfortunately. It was fun spending time with her, but tomorrow I would see her again and I would be spending at least two months with her after that. Renee was glad to see that we were getting along so great too.

At home I couldn't stay still. I checked my backpack at least a thousand times, to see if I had everything. I was really, really excited and knew that I wouldn't sleep well this night.

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**I hope you still like this story and I'll try to update sooner but I can't promise anything.**

**Bisous Lily**


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